Alaska Pays Residents Up to $2,000 a Year Just to Live There

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Alaska is renowned for its spellbinding ocean views and gorgeous snowy mountains, but one little-known fact about the state may give you the urge to pack all your bags and relocate there. Alaska pays all its residents up to $2,000 a year just for living there.

It may sound too good to be true, but the reason why the state's permanent citizens get so much money for residing there actually makes perfect sense. You see, there's a lot of oil money in The Last Frontier, so the Alaska Department of Revenue wants to be sure every resident gets a little share of the wealth. The exact amount of money paid to each citizen varies from year to year, but 2015 saw the highest payout ever — $2,072 to each resident.

It's all part of the Permanent Fund Dividend Division, which was set up back in 1982 to ensure that future generations will benefit from the state's oil reserves, which are impressive in size but will not last forever. Since then, a whopping $21 billion in total has been given to the people of Alaska.

If you're wondering what the catch is to getting these annual checks, the answer is, there isn't one. There are only two simple conditions you need to meet: You have to live in Alaska for at least 180 days out of the year and you can't be convicted of a crime in the last year.

While we're sure this awesome program isn't news to people that actually live in Alaska, it's certainly news to us — and a tempting factor to consider when relocating. Anyone else feeling the sudden urge to call Alaska your new home sweet home?